Never Too Late
by Velace
Summary: Regina realised she made a mistake when she married Robin Hood and Emma has been paying the price all along.


**Author Note:** I got prompted on Tumblr and had this written a while ago, which I figured fulfilled said prompt. I posted the first bit, but left out the rest, and then I decided to edit and finish it to make this one!shot so...

**The prompt was:** _would you be open to writing a cheat fic? or just a drabble? i'm not picky but i know you don't do many prompts and wasn't sure if this was a nono-prompt. _So I guess the **warning **is that it contains cheating, but not on each other; Swan Queen _is _my OTP after all.

* * *

_"__I need you."_

The text made Emma ache. Three simple words that said, that meant so much. She longed for them on a daily basis but it was only when it was too late that she had first heard them, continued to hear them now that it was known she could never ignore them.

She grabbed her keys, her phone, and her jacket. Deleted the text, plastered a false smile on her lips and told David she would be back in an hour tops, created a halfway believable lie for where she was going so he wouldn't wonder, or worse, worry.

Five minutes later and she appeared before the Mayor's receptionist, rocking on the balls of her feet and chewing at her bottom lip as if the copper tang of blood would force some sense into her befuddled brain before she could once again commit to an act that had been perfected within the last three months.

"Send her in." The dulcet tone of the brunette's voice echoed in her head and would likely do so for days to come.

"Lock it," Regina said as Emma stepped through the door and the faint 'click' of her obedience was the only other sound between them.

Emma shucked her jacket, tossing it to the back of the chair where those who had an appointment would sit. She moved quietly until she stood beside the brunette who continued to read the documents in front of her, scribbling a signature or note here and there until she had completed anything that would have stolen her attention.

The pen came to rest on the desk and her chair turned. Emma watched as a tongue darted passed lips, a quick swipe before it disappeared again. Hands positioned themselves on her thighs, stroking as they travelled upwards, beneath her tank where they bunched the cloth at her ribs. She closed her eyes as a hot breath flitted across her abdomen, lips pressed to her skin as if their owner worshipped the one it belonged to.

Fingers undid her belt, popped the button and tugged on her zip. Jeans fell to her knees, along with her favourite pair of boy shorts. The hands grasped her hips as the tongue reappeared and delved between her thighs, parting her folds. Her knuckles turned white as she clutched the desk, knees weakening beneath the probing, almost loving swipe of her slit.

With her head thrown back, Emma allowed the void to blanket her mind and consume her thoughts; to suffocate the feelings of guilt that would resurface the moment she left this office and returned to the station to finish her shift. She moaned, whimpered as nails dug into her flesh and a strong stroke of her clit had her hips bucking into the mouth that would send her over the edge all too soon.

It almost made her cry, thinking how fast it would end but the void came, swallowed the thought and feeling along with it before she could surrender to it. She exhaled her relief, brought the arm at her side up and tangled her fingers within the brunette's hair, encouraging the ministrations as she rocked her hips.

The head pulled away, the tongue replaced with a finger and Emma could feel the eyes on her. Regina liked to watch her come undone, and Emma never once met her gaze, afraid that she would shatter if she did. Whatever this was between them was fragile, one wrong move, one word out of place; she knew it would end. She wanted more, needed more but for now, she had to settle.

"Emma."

Blonde curls shook from side to side. Regina never spoke when they did this, it had to be in her mind and she would be damned if she allowed a figment of her imagination to override her common sense. She could not, would not look down into those eyes and pretend everything was fine, pretend that what they did wasn't slowly killing her inside.

A second finger joined the first, spreading her folds as they glided through slick heat and entered her. She groaned at the feeling of fullness, walls contracting around the digits as her body saw no shame in holding on, begging the woman to stay nestled within its warmth.

"Emma," came the voice again and there was no use in her feigning ignorance as it commanded her. "Look at me, Emma."

She resisted for a split-second but in the end, she knew that it was pointless and she opened her eyes, silently cursing the fact she was incapable of denying the woman anything as she stared down into those chestnut orbs.

She had to bite back a sob at the love she found therein and the hint of pain beneath. Her mind filled with sincere apologies and whispered declarations of love as a tear fell from the corner of her eye, a head pressed to her stomach, lips tenderly brushing against flesh while fingers thrust in and out until she finally came with a cry.

As soon as Emma recovered and was certain her legs wouldn't give way beneath her, she yanked her jeans up and did as she should have done only minutes ago; ignored the call of her name as she bolted from the room.

* * *

Everything hurt.

Regina knew what she was doing when she forced Emma to do as she wanted, she knew she wouldn't be denied, not after all they had been through together. Not after everything the blonde had confessed to one night when she appeared on her doorstep a month after her marriage to Robin, a drunken mess who passed out on her couch in the Den.

Emma vanished the next morning when she realised what she had done, but it hadn't taken her long to come to terms with the fact Regina now knew more about her than Emma had ever planned to share. By her own words there wasn't anything she could do about it, so she accepted it and apologised for her behaviour with the hope that everything would return to normal.

Except, Regina no longer wanted normal and with every day she spent with Robin, she regretted her decision more and more. Weeks passed in which she tried to forget everything that Emma had said to her until one night, she was the one who drank a little too much, barged into Emma's apartment without an invitation and laid out her own feelings for the woman.

As cliché as the saying is, one thing led to another and after that night neither of them seemed to be able to help themselves. She never allowed Emma to reciprocate, using the excuse that she was married and she somehow convinced herself and the blonde that as long as that rule stayed in place, it wasn't cheating.

Not really.

She doubted that she would have agreed were she in the opposite position and Emma had been the one married to another. More than likely, she would have laughed and pointed out all of the flaws in the so-called logic but by that point, it was obvious that Emma would agree to almost anything if Regina were the one suggesting it.

_Her_ guilt was due to the fact she took advantage of that knowledge without hesitation.

She no longer felt anything for her husband and wasn't sure if she ever had, nor did he appear bothered by the fact that they saw less of each other after only four months of marriage, than they had an entire year in the Enchanted Forest. As horrible as her relationship with Leopold had been, even he paid more attention to their marriage than Robin does.

Blame.

That was all her mind did these days, she preferred to blame Emma for ever admitting her feelings for her, she blamed Robin for taking more interest in his new friends and the town in general, simply because she couldn't admit that she made a mistake.

Until now, at least.

Pushing back her chair, she stood and walked over to the red leather jacket abandoned by its owner in her bid to escape, snatched up her keys from where they lay on her desk and stalked out of her office. Informing her secretary to push back all of her appointments until tomorrow, she continued on without once faltering in her stride towards her Mercedes.

Her first stop was the Sheriff station but, of course, Emma couldn't make her life that simple and after throwing her jacket at her father, Regina got back into her car and it wasn't until she closed her door that she realised David had followed her out.

Ducking his head, he tapped on the window and she rolled her eyes before she lowered it.

She sighed, "Can I help you, Charming?"

He offered her a smile and straightened up, to which she frowned in confusion before his deep voice drifted through the small crack she had made. "Try the docks," he said before walking off without even waiting to see if she would thank him.

* * *

Emma was in love, with a married woman. She had sex, with a married woman. Sort of. The lack of reciprocation caused a certain amount of confusion but that wasn't really the point.

The point was—it was wrong, more than wrong.

It was immoral and not... good.

Emma groaned and her head fell back against the bench, only causing a mild wince and pained grunt as it connected with wood. As far as she was concerned, a headache would be far less than she deserved. She may not exactly like Robin Hood but that didn't mean she didn't feel bad about sleeping with his wife.

His wife, who had just successfully ruined everything.

Bad enough what they had been doing when Emma had thought her love was unrequited. She knew Regina desired her, missed their interactions when Emma had withdrawn – she said as much when she barrelled her way into her apartment all those months ago but there was never any mention of love.

The sound of a car door slamming jarred Emma from her thoughts and her head lolled to the side. Realising that it was none other than the woman herself, she released a huff of irritation and sat up straight. Focusing her attention back on the water, she wondered whom she needed to avoid for the next week for telling the brunette where to find her.

"Your father," Regina supplied the answer as she sat down beside her and Emma sighed once more because, of course, the person who knew her better than anyone else would be able to predict her exact thoughts.

Shoulders slumping in resignation, Emma folded her arms across her chest and continued to stare out at the ocean as she asked, "What do you want?"

"Honestly?" Emma glared at her out of the corner of her eye and it brought a small smile to the brunette's lips before she replied, "I've never desired much, Emma. At least, no more than anyone else. A family, someone to share my life with, someone who loved me unconditionally despite my many faults and someone I love in return. That is all I would need to be happy."

Emma rolled her eyes and shifted uncomfortably, putting a little more distance between them. "You're married to the one you were destined for, with two sons who adore you. By my count, you have everything you want."

Regina scoffed. "By your count then, I should love someone I had no choice over."

"You married him and _that _was your choice," Emma countered, a snarl curling her lips as she remembered that day all too well. She growled and shook the memories from her mind, knowing they would return sooner or later due to her masochistic nature when it came to her emotions and anything Regina-related.

"Robin is a good man, a wonderful father." Regina paused, inhaled and gathered her thoughts before she released the breath on a sigh. "Maybe I would have loved him if I had given it a chance all those years ago when the dust led me to him but, whatever could have been then is no longer possible. I am not the same person that I was then, too much has happened in the time that has passed."

Emma leaned forward, elbows on her knees and head in her hands. All she wanted to do was scream, to grab hold of the woman beside her and shake some sense into her. As if one loveless marriage wasn't enough, she had thrown herself into another and why? Because she believed in some supposed force that predetermined your life before you're even born.

She swallowed, pressed her palms hard against her eyes when she felt the sting of unshed tears and finally looked to the brunette who she had known had been staring at her the entire time. She willed her to continue speaking, to put an end to the slow, torturous death she had been suffering with for months and just as she was about to break, Regina said the words she had waited to hear.

"I realise it has taken me some time to come to this conclusion but I made a mistake when I married him and I know now that it should have been you. You are the one I want to spend my life with, the one I choose, the one I have always loved."


End file.
